Melting snow falling off a vehicle, and especially the road salt from the snow accumulating under a vehicle during winter driving, is known to erode cement floors and to stain the bases of wooden walls in contact with such saline composition. Similarly, any amount of grit, mud, dirt, lubricants, and various fluids dripping off a vehicle while it is parked in a garage, deteriorates floor paints and a general tidiness of the building.
For these reasons, it is preferable to provide beneath a vehicle parked in a garage, a floor cover to catch and contain water, slush and grime falling off the vehicle.
A floor cover of the prior art is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,308,670, issued on May 3, 1994 to Steven S. Saylor. The rectangular pad for garage floor disclosed therein has all sides raised by means of a pocket along each outer edge, enclosing a reinforced rubber hose. The pad is in one piece for covering an entire space under a parked vehicle. The reinforced rubber hoses are each the full length of a respective edge of the pad.
Another carpet material of the prior art is a rubber-like corrugated PVC matting commercially known as a wide-ribbed vinyl matting. The matting material has a substantial thickness to resist studded winter tires, and its plastic construction is suitable to retain saline and petroleum compositions. A major drawback, however, is that the material is extruded in strips having a commonly available width of 36 inches and a maximum width of less than 60 inches.
Covers for garage floors should meet certain requirements in order to successfully support a manufacturing operation therefor. For example, an impermeable cover for garage floors must appeal to clients as well as to retailers.
To a client, an impermeable carpet should be able to retain a volume of water at least equivalent to the snow and ice accumulating under a vehicle during few uses of this vehicle. Moreover, an impermeable carpet for a garage floor should have relatively low sides such that a car driving over the edge thereof will not displace it.
To a retailer, an impermeable carpet for garage floor must be saleable in a compact package taking little space in a retail establishment. Another important requirement is that a buyer should be able to transport the carpet in his own vehicle, and to install it without the assistance of service personnel.
In this regard, the carpets for garage floors of the prior art lack one or more of the above attributes.